The alternate start
by The reporter with a gun
Summary: No zombie apocalypse. All the same characters. What could bring them together apart from an apocalypse? They'll find out soon enough.
1. Chapter 1

Carley felt like she would die right there and then. Her bitch of an Editor wouldn't let up. She was moaning and yelling about how Carley hadn't finished her report on the migration of ants. I mean, could there be a worse thing to report on?

"Are you even listening Carley?!" Paula shouted, putting down her coffee cup to emphasise her point.

"Yes, I am. I just, why can't I have a bigger story? Please, you know I can do it." Carley leant forward on the table, really wishing she had some coffee right about now.

"If, and only if, you finish your report, I may offer you a bigger story. Now, get out of here." Paula pointed to the door and Carley sighed and collected up her stuff and left. She was sifting through her bag to find her phone when she bumped into someone walking the other way.

"I'm so sorry!" The person said. Carley opened her mouth to say sorry back, but she brushed it off.

"That's okay... Doug, is it?" Carley asked, zipping up her bag.

"Uh, yeah. I heard your boss shouting at you, so I brought you this." Doug handed Carley a nice hot coffee, not one of the company ones either, a Costa coffee.

"Oh, thanks. I don't know what to say. Apart from, thanks. And, do you want to walk with me and drink yours too?" Carley asked, smiling at the IT tech.

"Sure." He walked over to the door with Carley and the two of them left the building, drinking their coffees and laughing at each others jokes.

"And then Paula thought it would be a funn-" Carley and Doug let out a grunt when a tall woman pushed past both of them, striding right through the middle. "Hey, watch it." The woman turned around, glaring at Carley.

"Excuse me? What are you going to do about it, shorty? Why don't you get the hell out of the way of others?" The women turned back around and stalked off. Doug nudged Carley.

"Did you see her name tag? She was an Army Engineer. You just upset someone from the army." Doug snickered, drinking more of his coffee.

"Who cares? What is she gunna do, shoot us?" Carley shook her head and continued on their walk. Doug rushed to catch up with her, chucking his empty coffee cup into a bin next to him.

"Hey, fancy some pizza?" Doug said, pointing out a guy getting out of a pizza delivery car.

"This isn't a date, Doug." Carley laughed. Doug was about to respond when Carley phone started vibrating.

"A text, from Paula. 'Your case: Senator sleeps with Professor's wife. Report by Friday.' Shit, it's Tuesday. I'm sorry, another time?" Carley passed her coffee to Doug and quickly left, rushing back to the WABE building.

"...Sure."


	2. Chapter 2

"Lee Everett?!" Carley weaved through crowds at the police station, trying to reach the distraught man. According to her research, he had come home to find his wife in bed with a senator, and he had been so angry, he destroyed his living room, before coming to the police. Lee Eve- Oof." Carley looked up to find a tall dark-skinned man looking down at her. "I'm so sorry, I'm looking for a Mr. Everett."

"You found him." Lee smiled, and took her arm, leading her away from the crowds. "I haven't seen you here before. You're not a cop, are you?"

"No, I'm a reporter for WABE." Carley straightened out her top. She was wearing a white button-up shirt with a purple body warmer on top. "I'm so sorry about everything." Lee looked down and sighed.

"I knew something was up, I always had, but this? ...I never would have guessed..." Lee sat down on one of the chairs and held his head in his hands. Carley knew as a reporter she wasn't meant to get too emotionally attached, but she couldn't just sit there and question him.

"Hey, Mr. Everett?" Lee looked up, smiling slightly.

"It's Lee." Lee said, looking at Carley waiting for her response.

"Oh, okay, Lee. Do you want to get out of this place and grab a coffee?" Carley asked, hopes raised. She really did feel sorry for this man.

"Sure. I know a good place... You never told me your name." Lee said, getting up and putting his arm around Carley's shoulders to lead her through the crowd.

"Carley."

"2 coffees please, extra cream. Thanks." Lee turned back to Carley who was looking around the small cafe. Only 2 other tables were taken. One to a guy in a cap, a little boy and a woman fussing over said boy. The other was an oldish tough guy, a skinny guy with glasses and the same woman that had shoved past her earlier. "Carley?"

"Huh?" Her attention snapped back to Lee, and she smiled in embarrassment. "Sorry. This cafe is small."

"You're small." Lee chuckled.

"Don't call me small." Carley smirked.

Both sat in uncomfortable silence for a while. One thinking how to spark up a conversation, the other thinking how to talk to someone who just lost everything.

"Car-"

"Lee-"

"Here are your coffees." The waitress put the two coffees on the table and Lee passed her 10 bucks, telling her to keep the change.

"So... a reporter? How much do you already know about me?" Lee asked Carley, sipping his coffee.

"Well, I know who you are. You're Lee Everett, a history at the University of Georgia, you've been working their for 6 years. Your wife had a travelling job. One day, you came home sick from work at the university and discovered her sleeping with a state senator. In anger, you tore your living room apart and called the police." Carley spoke very formally, then taking a big gulp of her coffee. Lee sat back, surprised. He didn't know anything had been released to the public.

"Well then, how about you?" Lee asked, smiling slightly.

"What do you mean?" Carley replied, putting another brown sugar in her coffee.

"I don't know about you. I know you're a reporter for WABE and that your first name is Carley, other than that, I know nothing." Lee chuckled. "And that you're small."

"Did you not hear me earlier? Don't call me small. And there isn't much else to know. I'm addicted to coffee, live alone, work consumes my life, I have a gun and am a damn good shot, I believe in ghosts and I like this cafe." Carley spoke quickly, stirring her coffee. Lee opened his mouth to respond but was stopped by the man in the cap from the other table.

"Hey there. You wouldn't know how to fix a car, would you?"


End file.
